This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Less than a week after pulling the plug on his plans to perhaps revitalize the Utah State Fairpark with a minor-league soccer stadium, Real Salt Lake owner Dell Loy Hansen will hold a press conference Tuesday to announce his latest proposal at a new site.
A source told the Tribune Sunday night the press conference will be held at the proposed potential site, adding "We are entering into an exclusive window with the Salt Lake Valley community."
This news comes six days after Hansen rescinded his offer to build and finance an estimated 8,000-seat stadium at the Fairpark for RSL's incoming USL minor league team, Real Monarchs, which is scheduled to start their inaugural season later this month. The Fairpark stadium, which Hansen vowed to pay for entirely out of pocket, was estimated to have costed potentially $18 and $23 million. Hansen's decision to pull the offer came as the Utah State Legislature continued to wrestled over what to do with the state's Fairgrounds property, currently managed by the Fairpark Corporation.
The final hurdle in the way of the potential Fairpark stadium was whether or not the state would extend the corporation's lease on the Fairgrounds for another 50 years. Hansen and the Fairpark board reached an agreement on Jan. 24, including a term sheet that including a new entrance on North Temple, additional parking as well as added signage and landscaping.
Hansen told the Tribune Wednesday that he'd like to keep the Monarchs and parent club RSL within close proximity, adding that he hopes for a new site potentially in the greater Salt Lake Valley.
"There's numerous opportunities that we think could be explored and we've started down some of those paths," Hansen said on Feb. 25. "We didn't want to go down them to any profound level until we clearly understood what was going on with the legislature, but we do believe they'll be plenty of opportunities to put a minor-league stadium in the state and we look forward to exploring those [options] further and then coming back and explaining what we think those possibilities are."
The Tribune will continue to update this story as more details become available.
-Chris Kamrani
Twitter: @chriskamrani